The invention relates generally to call centers or other call processing systems in which voice calls, e-mails, faxes, voice messages, text messages, Internet service requests and other types of communications are distributed among a number of service agents for handling.
Call centers distribute calls and other types of communications to available call-handling service agents in accordance with various predetermined criteria. In existing systems, the criteria for handling a call are often programmable by the operator of the system via a capability known as call vectoring. Typically, when the system detects that an agent has become available to handle a call, the system identifies the call-handling skills of the agent, usually in some order of priority, and delivers to the agent the longest-waiting call that matches the agent""s highest-priority skill. Most conventional call distribution techniques generally focus on being xe2x80x9cfairxe2x80x9d to callers and agents. This fairness is reflected by the standard first-in, first-out call to most-idle-agent call assignment process. The above-noted skills-based queuing improves upon this basic process in that it allows each agent to be placed into a number of different service categories based on the skill types supported by that agent.
Certain of the skills needed to process calls in a typical call center are referred to as xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d skills, and often include those skills typically required for the majority of calls. Agents having such skills are referred to as agents with normal status for the particular skills, or simply normal agents. Other skills needed to process calls are of the type known as xe2x80x9creservexe2x80x9d skills, and often include skills which tend to be needed less frequently than the normal skills. The distinction between normal and reserve skills for a given agent may vary depending upon the particular skills of that agent. For example, an agent who is multilingual may also be able to speak English, but English could be a reserve skill for that agent, while other languages the agent speaks are the normal skills for that agent. This is because the other languages may be in greater demand and cannot be met by English-only agents. Reserve skills may thus be viewed as any skills which an agent is capable of performing, but which for some reason the agent is not requested to perform unless in the event of call overload or other special situation.
Agents having these reserve skills are referred to as agents with reserve status for the particular skills, or simply reserve agents. Reserve agents can be non-exclusively reserve, i.e., they can also have some normal skills. Agents which have only reserve skills are referred to as xe2x80x9cexclusively reservexe2x80x9d agents. These exclusively reserve agents process calls only for the corresponding reserve skills. An exclusively reserve agent will therefore typically be used on an intermittent basis throughout a given work day, in accordance with variations in the volume of calls requiring their particular reserve skills. Typically, such an agent will have one or more other non-call tasks, such as paperwork or supervisory duties, that must be accomplished. However, interrupting these other non-call tasks too frequently may prevent the agent from completing the tasks.
Conventional systems are generally unable to accommodate exclusively reserve agents, as well as other types of reserve agents, in a manner which allows the agents to complete non-call tasks with optimal efficiency. For example, such systems may require a system administrator, manager or supervisor to decide when to convert an exclusively reserve agent to normal agent status. This can be a particularly difficult task in that the exclusively reserve agents may not all be under one person""s control or view, and in that each reserve agent may be reserve for several skills, only one of which may be creating an excessive interruption problem.
The invention solves these and other problems of the prior art by providing a minimum interruption cycle time for reserve call center agents. The invention is applicable to exclusively reserve agents which process only calls requiring reserve skills, but can also be applied to other types of reserve agents. In an illustrative embodiment, after a reserve agent completes the processing of a call, a cycle timer is started for that agent. The delivery of additional calls to the reserve agent is then suspended until the value of the cycle timer is greater than or equal to an established minimum interruption cycle time for that agent. Any of a number of other techniques may also be used for measuring the cycle time for a reserve agent. The minimum interruption cycle time may be selected so as to allow the reserve agent to complete a designated number of non-call tasks between the calls processed by the reserve agent. The invention can be applied not only to voice calls, but also to e-mails, faxes, voice messages, text messages, Internet service requests and other types of communications.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, in applications in which there are a pool of reserve agents, one or more of the reserve agents may be converted to normal agent status for at least one particular skill that is causing excessive interruption of reserve agents, so as to maintain the minimum interruption cycle time or times for the remaining reserve agents in the presence of an increased call volume. As the call volume decreases, one or more of the converted reserve agents may be restored back to reserve agent status, while the minimum interruption cycle time or times are maintained for all the reserve agents. Alternatively, the number of reserve agents in the pool may be increased so as to maintain the minimum interruption cycle time or times for the remaining reserve agents in the presence of an increased call volume. Different minimum interruption cycle times may be established for each of the reserve agents, based on the types of non-call tasks those agents are required perform between calls. Other variations are also possible. For example, the maintenance of the minimum interruption cycle time could be limited based on specified criteria, e.g., not maintained during the busiest time of the day, and any conversion of reserve agents to normal status and vice-versa may require approval of a system administrator.
The invention provides a number of advantages over conventional techniques. By providing a minimum time between calls for reserve agents, it ensures that such agents can accomplish non-call tasks with optimal efficiency while also servicing calls requiring reserve skills. Moreover, the invention can be implemented in an automatic manner, thereby avoiding the problems associated with requiring a system administrator, manager or supervisor to decide when to convert an exclusively reserve agent to normal agent status in order to prevent excessive interruption. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.